One Place for All the Assorted Thoughts on Bond

Through 2012, there have been some wonderful articles by my colleagues on all sorts of things Bond. Just for posterity, and to place the responses I’ve made all in one place, I’ve re-posted them here. I updated a few items, shortened others, but mostly my comments remain unchanged. Purely for the folk that love this venerable movie series as much as I do.

Bond Henchmen

Red Grant (Robert Shaw, From Russia With Love) – without question, the most plausible, most realized henchman in the whole series, in my book. He’s also the only one to have ever killed Bond (at least in the pre-title sequence. 😉

Oddjob (Harold Sakata, Goldfinger) – a sheer and formidable presence, if there ever was one. And never uttered a word of dialogue. He didn’t need to.

Fiona Volpe (Luciana Paluzzi, Thunderball) – I don’t know why this one is regularly omitted. The first female character as a true henchman* that could stand her ground in every scene she had with Sean Connery.

Bond Cars

Aston Martin DB5 – Goldfinger (1964), From Russia With Love (1963), Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall (2012): still the car for all of the 50 years of James Bond. Looked good then, looks great now.

12 Responses to “One Place for All the Assorted Thoughts on Bond”

Great compilation of Bond-love trivia Michael! My most memorable pre-title sequence is from Goldeneye and for all the wrong reasons. Remember when Jimbo jumps on that bike and follows the plane over the cliff, enters it while free-falling and miracuoulsy manages to pull it up? That goes down as the all time worst pre-title sequence! Thanks Michael!

Aside from all the obviously good Bond movies (From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, Goldeneye, Casino Royale, Skyfall) I have to confess I have a guilty pleasure too: it’s for your eyes only only, which I think it’s better than the “Spy who loved me”.
… And as far as Bond girls are concerned, can we consider Judy Dench as one and put her on the top of the list? Or does 007 has to bed them to consider them them “bond girls”?

Good points. I hear you about Dame Judi. She was the Bond girl in Skyfall! And I don’t think Bond has to bed them to qualify as a Bond girl. Craig didn’t with Olga Kurylenko in Quantum of Solace, for instance. Thanks so much for the comment, MG 🙂